December 2002 -- As the Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council
is forming, informal discussions began among several participants
from Hermon, Montecito Heights, and Mount Washington about the desire
to locate a dog park in Hermon.

February 20, 2003 -- At a meeting in Hermon, the city's
Department of Recreation and Parks (RAP) accepts a community proposal
to change the name of the Arroyo Seco Park located off Via Marisol to
"Hermon Park in the Arroyo Seco" in time for the community's
centennial celebration that summer. Discussions also begin with
elected officials regarding placing the first city dog park in
Northeast L.A. within Hermon.

May 22, 2003 -- City Council District 14 officials and RAP
staff members meet with interested parties to measure community
support for the dog park in Hermon -- support was overwhelming.

April 29, 2005 -- Groundbreaking for the first dog park in
Northeast Los Angeles.

July 16, 2005 -- Grand opening of the Hermon Dog Park.

September 30, 2005 -- Friends of Hermon Dog Park, now a
501(c)3 non-profit charitable organization, is organized by original
members of the Hermon Dog Park Formation Committee nearly three years
after work began to place a dog park here.

July 2006 -- Friends of Hermon Dog Park's original logo was printed on T-shirts and membership sign-up began.

June 2010 -- In celebration of Dog Fancy Magazine's 40th Anniversary, the magazine named the country's top 40 parks and Hermon Dog Park was ranked 7th nationwide, and was one of two top 10 parks in California.

Present -- Hundreds of Dogs and Cats have been adopted through various Friends of Hermon Dog Park events in these seven years, and countless dogs have been spay/neutered since inception.

Kathryn "Kat" Spofford was born in Houston, Texas. Her uncle, a veterinarian, presented her with her first terrier. She grew to love all dogs but especially terriers and she's owned 6 terrier breeds over the years.

She moved to Los Angeles soon after she married and she and her husband currently reside in Highland Park with their two dogs, Henley and Spencer. Both of their dogs are CGC certified and working actors. As Kat says, "They bring me smiles everyday. I rescued Henley and Spencer from The Houston Sheltie Sanctuary in Houston 5 years ago. They are half Shetland Sheepdog, half Jack Russell Terrier. The dogs know around 30 tricks!"

After moving to Highland Park in 2008, Kat's first order of business was to find a dog park near her home. Kat says, "I discovered Hermon Dog Park and became a member soon after."

Ursula Brown, Treasurer

Ursula Brown immigrated to the U.S. in 1966 from Germany via Mexico,
Costa Rica, and Central America. She was raised near her grandparents
farm post-World War II. She owned a Property Management/Real
Estate office and her home in Highland Park includes ducks, chickens,
birds, dogs, and cats-all abandoned by their owners.

Animal welfare has always been close to her heart, from her
childhood spent with farm animals to seeing how some people neglect
or abandon their animals when they move. In an effort to advance
animal welfare and contribute to a better community, Ursula
originally spearheaded the effort to establish an off-leash dog park
in Eagle Rock. Unable to locate suitable land in Eagle Rock, but with
solid support from city agencies, the cause was picked up by the
community of Hermon who successfully carried it to completion.

Silvia has lived in Montecito Heights since '07, and enjoys bringing her pack to Hermon Dog Park for exercise and socialization. She appreciates the role of dogs in the development of modern human society, and feels its our human responsibility to make sure these furry angels are taken care of properly.

Sherry Uribe, Director

Sherry Uribe is a past Secretary of Friends of Hermon Dog Park (10 years!) She has been a long time resident of the El Sereno area living with her husband, children, dogs and cats. She has
served on various committees at her children's schools and currently
works for the County of Los Angeles Public Library. Her children have
been active in the sports programs offered at El Sereno Park. She
enjoys reading, gardening, and meeting others that share her love of
pets and their well being.

Linda Torn, Director

Family legend has it that Linda Torn pushed her first cat around in a baby stroller and squealed with delight when her dog gave birth to "gophers". She's been surrounded by dogs and cats ever since. An ardent advocate of TNR animal rescue, she's bottle-fed orphaned kittens and found homes for a variety of strays.

Her current brood is small at one dog, Roxie, and two cats, Holly and Vivian. A native of Southern California and long time resident of Montecito Heights, she is an administrator for a children's health program.

Cassandra Jurado, Director

Cassandra Jurado (Cassie for short) has been a fan of Hermon Dog Park since 2007, but her Lab retriever and American Bulldog/Pit are even bigger fans of our local dog park. Cassie is a Highland Park/LA native since 1992 and a proud Board member of Friends of Hermon Dog Park since 2015.

Nancy Nickerson is a past Co-President of Friends of Hermon Dog Park (2009 - 2014). She is a producer and project manager of web sites and digital media, and spends much of her free time involved with community activities, including being a founder and board member of the Mt. Washington Jessica Neighborhood. She is a lifelong animal lover who shares her Mt. Washington home with an exuberant terrier mix (Bark Avenue Foundation rescue and graduate of K9 Connection) and two friendly tabby cats (Lacy St. rescue and park squatter).

Wendi Riser, Past President and Co-President

Wendi Riser was president and co-president of the Friends of Hermon Dog Park from its inception until June of 2012. A life-long resident and advocate for the community of Hermon, Wendi has spearheaded beautification and safety efforts, organized a day-long festival celebrating Hermon's 100-year anniversary of joining the City of Los Angeles, and was honored in August of 2012 by Jose Huizar as the CD14 2012 Pioneer Woman of the Year.

Wendi Riser has lived in Hermon nearly her entire life. She began
working with Donnette Thayer, our city councilmember, and the
Department of Recreation & Parks in early 2003 to get the Hermon
Dog Park approved in concept and then saw it through to its
completion in July of 2005.

Wendi has spearheaded many other Hermon community projects as well --
such as getting over 100 new trees planted in Hermon's parkways,
medians, hillsides and home gardens, getting students to design 2003
centennial street light post banners, the creation of the beautiful
Hermon monument sign and managing the city grant that funded it. Wendi writes a fun and quirky e-newsletter "All Things
Hermon" with info on things happening in and around the historic
little community.

The Hermon Advance Team (HAT), the service organization of Hermon,
was founded by Wendi and others in 2004. It includes the monthly
"Clean Team"-- a group of neighbors that clean the parkways and
bridges, as well as a bi-annual community bulky item collection. HAT
also sponsors quarterly meetings of the Hermon Safety Committee, a
community-wide neighborhood watch to proactively address and prevent
crime.

Lezle Stein, Past Co-President

A graduate of Animal Behavior and Training College, Lezle Stein is AKC-certified as a Canine Good Citizen Evaluator and a professional member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers as well as a member of the Southern California Dog Trainers Forum.

Lezle's extensive experience also includes American Red Cross certification in Pet First Aid and CPR. She has also participated with her own dog, Lucie Bell, in obedience, agility and shepherding training.

Lezle was the volunteer adoption counselor & dog rehabilitator for Downtown Dog Rescue, Los Angeles ' rescue group for homeless people & low-income people and their dogs for many years. A firm believer in community involvement Lezle, was also the Director of Animal Welfare for the Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council. She was selected by Councilman Jose Huizar, to sit on the board of The Los Angeles City Council Spay & Neuter Committee. Lezle has written dog training advise columns for the Highland Park News, Glassell Park News and the Mt. Washington Association. She has also studied with Dr. Nancy Scanlon, who specializes in holistic veterinary medicine through acupuncture and herbs.

Lezle continues her education through frequent seminars and training with her own dogs doing fun nose work (scent detection) and agility too!

2014 was an exciting year for Friends of Hermon Dog Park. We hosted a variety of fundraising events and expanded our community of members, newsletter subscribers and Facebook friends. We hosted Pet Ed seminars and "Yappy Hours" at the park, and laid the groundwork for a dog agility project to be installed in early 2015.

Our Co-President Nancy Nickerson, after many years of service to our Friends' Board of Directors resigned in January 2014. We elected Kat Spofford as President, and reaffirmed Silvia Lomeli as a director of the board to serve to two terms. Our board consisted of five board members in 2014.

AT THE PARK - We…

Added green metal signs, “Who Are We?” installed inside small and large park on fence.

Two Concrete Benches were added each side of park and placed by LA Rec and Parks.

We provided hundreds of bio-degradable poop bags and several pooper scoopers.

Large side water fountain fixed, small dog bowl replaced after stolen twice.

Ordered flier holders for dog park bulletin board area.

In May, we teamed with Aztec’s Rising to clean vandalized graffiti signs that hang in park.

Held two Clean-up days at the park, (June & October)

In July we met with Rec and Parks regarding getting a new grade of decomposed granite for the large dog side. Rec and Parks’ second ordered batch would be last offering; and they proposed to water it down twice a week to minimize the dust.

We were denied extension of the fence by Urban Forestry around the protected Oak tree to give the large dog side more shade.

Rec and Parks agreed to plant (3) trees in 2015 to replace trees Hermon Dog Park lost in a wind storm.

We got a bid on security cameras and solar lights at the dog park, and it would be $24,000, and FHDP would have to raise that money. We have tabled the issue for now.

We hosted themed "Yappy Hours" on the last Sunday of every month, which included Pet Education Seminars. We also had many giveaways at each event. All photos taken during YH were placed on our Facebook page.

January Yappy Hour: Annual Meeting and re-election of Board Members

February: Pet Education Seminar with Cindy Sanchez & Thea Martin, entitled, "Pet Emergency Preparedness", a free certificate to attend a Basic First Aid Class (a $40 value) was given away to one lucky winner at the end of the seminar.

March: Take a Walk in the Park day, a guided tour with your dogs around the Arroyo Seco Park, by guide Silvia Lomeli. Dog treats (in bags) were sent home with all Yappy Hour patrons.

April: Art in the Park- local artists set-up their wares and 10% of sales from artists were donated to FHDP at end of event. Dog Jewelry, Leashes and Art were displayed.

May: No Yappy Hour, instead we held an online Facebook Contest entitled "Pet Selfie" - 4 categories and various prizes were awarded to winners.

June: Dog and Cat Vaccine Day with Pets First Foundation. A year supply of Wellness dog food was given to one opportunity prize winner, and dog treats were given as secondary prizes. This was also a fundraiser for FHDP and a community event to get dogs vaccinated and micro-chipped. 80 Animals received vaccines. Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council also had a booth, and gave goodies away.

July: Bow Wow Luau- dogs dressed up in Hawaiian shirts, grass skirts and had pictures taken in Tiki Hut photo booth. Annual Membership Drive- gained 18 new members at event. Sent out mailings in July to members to renew membership as well.

October: HOWL-oween Costume Contest and Peanut Butter Lick-off. 58 entrants, first time in Hermon Dog Park history to charge (donation) for event, fundraiser for park as well. Gave 15 gift baskets prizes. Natural Balance and HALO donated products for baskets. Free sample dog food from NB and HALO was given out to park patrons. No Yappy Hour in November.

For 2014: We have 189 members who have paid membership fees or donated money. Last year we had 63.

We have 935 Facebook Friends, 60 Twitter Followers, and 30 Instagram posts. Our newsletter gained a VIP readers field, (readers who open the newsletter more than 70% of the time) we currently have 665 Subscribers.

FHDP signed up for a six-month membership to Meet-Up.com to gain new interest and garner new membership and new park users.

FUNDRAISERS/GRANTS for DOG AGILITY EQUIPMENT

FHDP President spoke at Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council Meeting on April 28th, applied for grant for dog agility course, we received funding in May.

FHDP President spoke at Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council meeting on September 4th. Received funds in September for one piece of dog agility equipment.

In August, FHDP had a fundraising event at Golden Road Brewery, received 10% of all food sales from Hermon Dog Park, park patrons that attended the event from 5-10 pm on Monday, August 18th. All restaurant patrons could bring their dog to the event. We had five Opportunity Drawings during event (members of Eagle Rock and Highland Park community donated gift cards and prizes), $300 made.

In November, FHDP was granted $5,000 from CD-14 (Jose Huizar) to complete funding needed to order and install dog agility equipment.

We supported L.A. North Central Animal Shelter by applying for a grant given to their Intervention program, through Doris Day Foundation.

Our volunteers are the heart of our organization -we had great support this year from many old friends and some wonderful new friends including the Academia Avance charter school and The Girl Scouts. We are truly grateful for all the help we received and know that we could not succeed without all of you. We are also grateful to our many donors who help keep us going.

Involvement - Members and park patrons are encouraged to get involved in activities at the dog park, by volunteering and hosting in our membership booth at Yappy Hours. If you are interested in attending a board meeting, please sign-up! We have a new motto for 2015 Yappy Hour: "Hermon Dog Park Yappy Hour, Where Dogs and their Owners get socially unleashed!" We now open the floor to questions and comments.